


A Holiday Mix-Up

by Moonlight91



Category: Once Upon A Time - Fandom
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Misunderstandings, One Night Stands, RSS 2018, Rom com tropes, Rumbelle Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-26 04:35:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17135048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlight91/pseuds/Moonlight91
Summary: For the RSS 2018 the theme was A Fond Kiss.Gold goes to the Rabbit Hole to collect the month's rent only to meet the new librarian Belle French where a platonic kiss provides a weekend of confusion.





	1. Chapter 1

Heading into the Rabbit Hole even during Rent Day was not an activity Ian Gold particularly enjoyed. The booze too stale and the company even worse as was expected of a bar located within a dismissive area of Downtown Storybrooke. He had been surprised to see the bar managed to remember of the festive time of year as there were colored lights covering the roof and the interior contained Christmas tree along with the bar stool now decorated with holly leaves as the bartender began pouring a holiday drink to few college girls who went to join their dates by the pool table. Even though it was the Christmas season, the Rabbit Hole had been one of the few places containing music where one would not hear the constant replay of Holiday music as one would hear throughout town or on the radio station as the juke box collection had not been updated since 1985.

Gold walked into the bar no longer paying attention to the patrons moving towards the bartender who quickly got his attention as he finished pouring what Gold assumed to be a Bloody Mary based on the coloring.

“I have the rent in the office,” said the bartender, a tall man in his mid-thirties who tried to pay more attention to the patrons than to the landlord as he headed out to the back. Mr. Gold looked at his pocket watch thinking to himself what was another five more minutes sitting down in the bar stool when he noticed a young woman sitting in the middle of the bar drinking a large, dark beer and completely engrossed in the book she was reading. From what little lighting the bar had, Gold could see the woman was fairly; perhaps mid to late twenties, with dark chestnut hair slightly covered by a bright red beret and fair, porcelain skin completely wrapped up in several layers of clothing where the only coat she managed to have taken off was the dark blue winter coat hanging over the chair she was sitting in. While Storybrooke is considered a small town, many of the townspeople where normally not within his radar to the point he would know them by either name basis or even a glance on the street, yet this woman was someone who Gold immediately noticed she could not be a local since the Rabbit Hole was close to the highway where it was easy for a driver heading to Portland would stop by for a drink.

He could see she was enamored by her book not noticing Keith Nottingham coming up to her table handing her another drink. Keith had never been one of Gold’s favorite tenants, occasionally late with the rent which would become borderline laughable as the excuses were one to not be easily believed and mostly known for spending time between The Rabbit Hole or as a guest of the Storybrooke holding cell on several charges that were too many to count. Gold could see the girl handing the drink thanking Keith even though she must have suspected as he had the beer must have been drugged or she will no longer be alone now that her bothersome suitor took a seat by her.

Gold quickly turned away collecting the rent money from the bartender before he turned around finding the woman saying for what was clearly not the first time to be left alone as Keith continued slipping closer to her even as she leaned back to thwart his advances. With a sigh, Mr. Gold got out of the bar stool walking over towards the unfortunate couple who luckily got their attention when he began tapping his cane more loudly than usual on the steps of the hardwood floors.

“Is there a problem here?” Gold addressed the girl who he now got a better look at in seeing her eyes were a lovely shade of cerulean which should not have been hidden in the dim light.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Interrupted Keith leaning closer to the girl.

Gold smirked back Keith focusing his attention back to the girl, “I trust I haven’t kept you waiting long, rent can sometimes be a tedious task where evictions may not always be pleasant, now would you agree on this Mr. Nottingham” making the not so subtle remark as the unwanted third party who began to lose his bravado as  Gold quietly pulled his cane to Keith’s kneecaps and started to poke them so severely where Keith started screaming in pain as he got out of his chair leading the girl to laugh at the man’s misery.

“On second thought, you aren’t worth the trouble.” Keith pointed to the girl “I’ll go find someone else and leave you to play nursemaid to the old cripple.” Gold rolled his eyes wondering how must wealthier he would if he had a nickel every time his age or his leg was brought up as an insult. The only insult had been they never got a rise out of him where he started to find the comments more tiresome than anything where he hoped someone would try something a bit original.

Keith left as Gold noticed the girl sighing a breath of relief turning her attention to him. “Thank You” she said in a faint Australian accent. “I thought the book might have been an obvious point where I wasn’t interested in talking to him.”

“You will find he probably never picked up a book in his life to find it as a shield.” Gold said smiling at her as he took a seat

She laughed back at him extending her hand. “Belle French.”

Gold smiled back at her offering his own hand finding her hand to be as soft as he had suspected it to be.

“Ian Gold”

“A pleasure to meet you let me buy you a drink. It’s the least I can do and I don’t really want to go back to my hotel just yet.”

Gold glances at his pocket watch then back at Belle whose pouting placed him in an unfair disadvantage of already agreeing to whatever she would say.

“Just one drink then” Gold quickly sat back down as Belle yelled for another round “So how did you find yourself staying in one of Granny’s rooms?”

Belle took another sip of her beer making a scrunch face Gold found adorable wondering if she normally doesn’t drink dark ales, although Belle had not appeared to be a cocktail person from what he had seen in second glances.

“I’m the new librarian.” She said gleefully

Gold had remembered Regina made some inquires to find a new librarian. The rest of the task fell upon to where he made the necessary requirements but he hardly remembered seeing photos of the candidates where he thought Belle’s resume appeared to the most competent. Although he could have sworn the library already had an apartment ready to be used.

“We aren’t expecting you until the start of January,” He smiled back at her “you are approximately two weeks early Miss French.”

Belle quickly stuck her tongue at him, “I wanted to settle in first before I began my post, only the apartment had not been ready and the Mayor is on vacation until the 28th so I won’t be sure what is going on for the next several days.”

_Typical Regina, always never bothering to work out details._

“As it happens, I happen to own the building and can give you the key tomorrow since it will need at least some form of daylight to figure out how to fix the remaining remodeling issues.”

Belle smiled back at him, “thank you for saving me from heading back to New York after all the goodbye parties I have had to sit through the past week.”

They both raised their glasses toasting to the new working relationship as one glass became two and three and several more through the next few hours with Gold insisting he pay for the tab despite Belle constantly refusing at each glass. Throughout that time, Gold started telling Belle about the antiques he sold from the pawnshop while downplaying the amount of real estate he known throughout the town. He briefly mentioned his ex-wife who was happily away in Manhattan with her obnoxious naval boyfriend and mainly focusing most of the conversation into Neal where Belle started to gush as he showed her a photo of the boy when he was twelve years old. It occurred to Gold he needed to get recent photos of Neal but that would have involved using them on his phone where he was not as tech savvy as his now adult son had been, a mistake he would rectify tomorrow when Neal returned home. The conversation naturally went to different topics to where it mainly went on about Belle’s recent departure from college and her experiences living in New York all while she kept trying to ignore the phone call and messages from her cell phone which even the vibration became too loud not to have noticed.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” he pointed out.

“They will get the message at some point” she brushed it aside placing the phone now in silence. She tried to stand up but the alcohol and the three inch heels quickly betray her when she starts wobbling to a near stumble where Gold get her before has a chance to lose his own balance.

Both Gold and Belle lock eyes into one another with their faces touching due to their close approximation. He could feel how soft her hair had been between his fingers and the natural warmth of her skin where he had wanted to be lost in it. Belle gripped onto his neck fiddling with his hair where Gold leaned his head down to give her more access.

“We should go outside and get some fresh air” Gold stated in which Belle agreed clinging on to him as he began stumbling in an effort to get his wallet to pay for the remaining bill laughing and staggering out of the bar to find Gold’s Cadillac to be parked half a block away.

Despite Gold’s insistence, Belle got into the car with ease while pointing out he was not sober either to drive when he turned on the car only for the heater to be turned on with Gold and Belle got the others’ attention and began to kiss one another frantically.

He tightened his grip onto her hair when Belle pulled him towards her allowing her tongue to access his mouth. He loved her enthusiasm as they continued kissing one another with his tongue sweeping her bottom lip, he leaned to her as much as he could when Belle moved her mouth close to his ear.

“I’m ready to go back” she whispered kissing Gold again to give him the clear message. He got the hint with clear interest driving them to Granny’s Inn all the while multitasking in having both arms and eyes also focusing on the road.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite staying in a forest view, the sun light lingered through the curtains leaving Gold feeling the aches of the hangover as he slowly began to wake up. He go up from the bed looking at the piles of clothes trailing from the door throughout the floor then stared down at the bed mate next to him finding Belle peacefully sleeping to the side with the blanket only covering half of her stomach leaving her entire chest exposed with parts of her hair covering the side of her face when Gold on a whim decided to tuck it behind her ear followed by her touching her cheek causing her to move flat on her back. He watched her a little while; she looked so beautiful softly humming in her sleep as her chest rose and fell from the light breathing.

Gold lay back onto the bed grinning at the previous night’s events. After Milah, he could have easily counted in one hand the sexual partners he had over the years where he started telling Belle he had not wanted to disappoint her. All he said to her fell on deaf ears as he could remember how many times she screamed his name just by his hand alone, followed by clinging onto the wall before finally moving into the bed. She had been just as insatiable as the marks on his chest and back would linger on there for the next few days that it left Gold pause to wonder if all of this were a dream and he would wake up back into his lonely bed to get ready for the day’s routine.

All of sudden Gold heard a noise turning around seeing Belle opening her eyes.

“Good Morning,” Belle said her voice hoarse but still able to smile at him as she got up to kiss him.

“Good Morning Belle,” he said as he brushed his hand against her soft cheek. His thumb came to her lip gently lowers his mouth to hers as she straddled him, nibbling on the stubble on his upper lip placing her hands to the back of his neck as he leaned to kiss down her neck leaving Belle moaning in pleasure. Any lingering effects from the hangover were long gone as Gold could not get enough of Belle sucking on her pulse point grabbing her lips pressing closer onto him. Belle could feel his erection prodding to her clit when she began rocking back and forth in an effort to tease him.

All of a sudden, Gold’s phone made a loud text breaking their concentration. Muttering a curse, Gold went over to the nightstand to gather the phone finding the text from Neal he was now on his way home which caused Gold to internally laugh overly Neal’s ill timing.

“I have to go now” he mentioned seeing Belle’s expression change where he was paining himself from continuing. “My son is coming over from Boston in a little bit.” As he got out of bed, a thought began to strike him “Could it possible to see one another again?” He hesitated in seeing her response.

“I would love to” she said getting out of bed finding a pair of panties and tank top discarded on the floor. “Since you are in a hurry, you can go take a shower and I’ll make us some coffee.” They kissed one another as Gold headed off to the bathroom closing the door when Belle heard the water turn on. As soon as she started getting the coffee prepared, Belle heard the door knock dreading if it was Granny or the teenager with a penchant for gothic fashion opening the door thrilled at seeing her new guest.

“Neal you made it,” the two friends gave one another a kiss on the cheek followed by their hug. “I thought you were coming by tomorrow.”

“Change of plans, I still am sorry for getting you to drive here alone, I hope everything has been okay so far.”

Belle started to blush when she turned around finding the bathroom door closed when Neal raised his eyebrow smirking as he saw discarded men’s socks on the floor. “Bad timing?”

“He is leaving in a bit, give me twenty minutes and we can meet downstairs at the diner.” She stared pushing Neal out of the door as he began to walk in.

“So I should plan on seeing you tomorrow morning of this afternoon then?” he winked at her.

Neal’s amusement at her current predicament left her more annoyed when she started to tap her foot pointing towards the opposite direction.

“Twenty minutes it is, I actually need to call my dad to let him about the change of plan.” Neal started getting his phone and began looking over his contacts. “See you in a bit”

Belle quickly closed the door preparing her coffee waiting for Ian to get out.

88888

Gold was surprised to find the bathroom stocked on Belle’s personal items as though she were planning on staying in the inn for a longer while. Everything neatly labeled with a fondness for blue from the shampoo bottles to color of bar soap and even her hairbrushes. He needed to make a note on giving her the apartment key before the week was out, he looked at the door forgetting to close it when he heard Belle opening the other door seeing Neal on the other side talking to Belle when they started to kiss leaving Gold more confused about what was Neal doing here rather than the house then he remembered the text Neal sent him a week earlier.

_Will be bringing someone over I come home next week; I can’t wait for you meet her._

All of a sudden, the bile from the hangover began to arrive as his hands turned clammy and he fought the urge from passing out. Gold never once considered himself a good man, but even he knew certain lines were never to cross and this was one of them he wanted to find the nearest bottle to crawl into.

 Out of all the women he met the previous night, it had to be the girlfriend of his own son. How could she have done this to Neal? Then he thought of Belle, was this normal occurrence for her. Had she known who he was and it was a thrill of hers, another thought stroke him if Milah had put her up to this before he shook the thought away. As much as he Milah, Gold knew she would never try to directly hurt Neal even for a petty attack against him.

 He couldn’t tell Neal without breaking his heart and he still felt something for Belle where he needed to get away from her as quick as possible. He turned off the shower opening the door finding Belle sitting on the desk reading a book in fresh clothes drinking a mug of what he assumed was coffee. She looked so innocent where he found the whole situation to be completely laughable had someone told secondhand. Then again he would have never believed the same with Milah until he saw it with his own two eyes.

Gold knew he needed to leave as quickly as possible. 

“Can you stay for a little bit?” she nervously giggled. “The coffee is warmed up” Belle blushed taking another drink when Gold picked up his cane looking at her again.

“No, its fine, I really need to leave.” He gathered his clothes quickly changing not caring his shirt had been wrinkled and knot on his tie had been placed in the wrong direction. He goes to the door slamming the door before Belle wishes him well. She looked at the door perplexed at what had just occurred, sipped her coffee then continued reading her book.

Belle looked around outside of the inn finding Neal sitting at the booth waving at her as soon as he spotted her. She went inside going to him in an embrace as they sat onto the booth ordering some breakfast when Belle noticed Neal grinning at her as she continued to turn her attentions away from eagerly curious companion.

“You didn’t bring tall, dark and handsome?” Neal pondered. “I swear I wasn’t going to make fun of you.”

“I told you, he had to leave.” _Although he was quick about it_   _not even a kiss goodbye_. She said in a disappointed tone. “Said he had to meet his family,” She noticed Neal looked at her with shock causing Belle to quickly become defensive at what she suspected Neal was insinuating. “He didn’t even have a tan line on his finger; anyway we are going to see each other later today”

“Oh,” Neal said grinning. “I can’t wait to meet him and have my big brother speech about how Emma and I know how to bury a body should we find him with some babyface redhead at a house party.”

At that moment, Belle looked at Neal with a smirk choosing to ignore him focusing on discarded notes. “Not every guy is like Gary, have some faith in me. From what I heard, he and Anna are engaged and causing his father the perfect amount of headache that they all deserve. Let’s not discuss my love life anymore. Anyway where’s Emma?”

It was then Neal’s turn to blush, “she’s still in Boston. Lily and the Fishers are practically her family and she wanted to spend some time with them before coming here. She said she will be back by Christmas Eve.”

Belle detected a shift in tone from Neal as she noticed he started twisting his napkin. “I’m sure Emma will be fine. She is going call you later and tell you about all the shopping she and Lily have done, tell you she wants to buy a blue house with a picket fence, then we can all start cheering about how this move was probably one of our crazier ideas.” She winked back at him.

“Hey let’s take it all one step at a time, I haven’t even introduced her to my father yet. Oh before I forget, you should come by later. We are going to do a few long-standing Christmas traditions and I don’t want you to be alone for the next few days.”

Belle nodded in agreement as soon as their food arrived both becoming surprised as seeing the large pancake spreads mixed with berries and syrup. Both started laughing at the realization the berries produced smiling expression with the syrup as a substitution for hair.

“Well I’m starving, let’s eat up and head to my house. I can’t to see my father again.”

88888

“I know, I know, the house is pink” Neal stated to Belle turning off the ignition of his Camaro both getting out as they begin collecting Neal’s bags from the backseat. “I swear the color has always been that way.”

“It’s lovely,” declared Belle. “There is a charm to it as though we are in another time.” She could see Neal was surprised by her comment, Belle always loved looking at older architecture where she wanted to ask Neal many questions about the house and pondered for a brief second how it was possible for his parents to have kept red roses in full bloom during the middle the harsh winters in December.  Neal kept quiet as they both walked into the driveway when Neal went over to the potted plant next to the window sill gathering the spare key opening the door.

“Papa, I’m home!” shouted Neal both placing the bags onto the foyer, Belle walked further into the pantry surprised to find the interior to be as antiquated as the home itself. The furniture appeared to be modern regardless of its 19th century aesthetic, the dark tint on the glass windows allowed little light to appear in the living room adding where Belle began to suspect if they will be greeted by ghosts coming from the staircase where she laughed the idea out of her head.

She looked around the tables and some of the walls seeing photographs of different time periods based on the clothes within the last seventy years. They all appeared to be in different geographical locations where the only ones from the house came in more recent photos of Neal where Belle smiled at seeing one where he was in his tuxedo with a young blonde girl standing next to him the same light green gown matching his vest in what she assumed must have been their prom date.

_At least Emma will be pleased to know she is his type._

Another photo next to the prom caught her eye when she saw what she assumed might have been another younger version of Neal, he must have been twelve years old holding a young Scottish terrier onto his lap as he sat down on the grass giving his usual Neal Cassidy cheeky grin. There was something strangely familiar of this photograph Belle was having an odd time placing, Neal was not the type of person to keep photos and their previous visit at the home of Neal’s mother and stepfather was not exactly warm and inviting with family love where Belle was hesitant to ask why he still kept his mother surname if they weren’t exactly close but she brushed it off as being none of her concern.

Despite this, she tried to remember why this photograph looked familiar. She carefully studied it when she noticed the similarities to a photo she had seen the previous night.

_The photo Ian had when she showed me his son; they are wearing the same red shirt. So if that boy was Neal and Ian was going to get his son, then that means….._

As soon as she dropped the photo as though it had burned her hand Gold stepped out of the kitchen wearing a checkered apron over his light blue shirt and black trousers holding a kitchen towel around his hands cleaning them up. His direction went straight to Belle’s looking as surprised as she was where she wanted to quickly find the way to get into the car and get back to the inn as quick as possible.

“Hello papa missed me?!” Neal stated going over to Gold as father and son embraced one another.

“I was expecting you an hour ago.” Stated Gold in that time not turning his attention to Belle.

Neal started laughing when he went towards his guest. “I drove a little earlier than expected and wanted to show Belle around. Belle this is my father, Ian Gold.” Turning back to his father. “Papa this is Belle French, she’s been my roommate in New York for the past two years.”

Both extended their hands to one another, “Belle” he said smirking back at her. “What a lovely name.”


End file.
